Sunday, February 25, 2007

Why Not Believe Them II

PHOENIX — George Lopez has a message for George Bush and all those folks who want to ship the immigrants back home:

“We ain’t going nowhere,” he told a soldout crowd of 5,000 at the Dodge Theater Friday night, on the eve of his first-ever HBO Comedy Special Saturday.

“They said that 700,000 people in Phoenix would be affected by immigration and have to back to Mexico. That ain’t (expletive),” he said, setting the tone for the theme of “America’s Mexican,” the hourlong special that will repeat Tuesday. “That’s seven quinceañeras and two weddings. (Expletive), we’ll be back before the dollar dance.”

Pacing the expansive stage in a dark suit and tie, the 45-year-old salt-and-pepper-haired comic laid down a plausible argument that immigrants, Hispanics among them, were vital to America’s fabric and economy.

“This country will not exist without immigrant labor,” he noted. “Man, I ain’t gonna mop. You see an immigrant mopping, it’s a career.”

The bottom line, Lopez argued, is that America has changed. There is no going back.

“The America we used to know is gone. It doesn’t exist anymore. You know who’s running America?” he asked, then paused while mariachi music blared.“That’s who’s running America.”

“Everything you touch we touched first,” he went on. “Taco Bell? The onions that went bad? Who do you think picked the onions from the field?

“The tainted spinach? Same thing. You pay us $3 an hour. We’re not going to wash it, too.”